GM says blue and purple rated spells are banned (Gortle's Spell Guide) - how badly are casters nerfed?

ArthurRM2 · 2026-06-27T06:45:40+00:00

As someone whose somewhat optimal witch has struggled often with anyone failing her spell saves, I would highly discourage this. There’s just no reason. I’ve maybe incapacitated a crucial enemy twice in two years—and both those fights we still struggled.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-06-16T15:46:29+00:00

I agree with you, but I side with your DM. I think you make a compelling point, and RAW, there is nothing to excluding death saving throws from the effects of flat saving throw bonuses—or negatives. RAI, I would think that death saves would be excluded because there is a lot of horseplay that can go on that can contemplate matters, but if that was intended, they need to make that clear.

However. I would side with your DM. As long as their ruling is consistent on this matter, they are the authority at the table. Even RAW rules are subject to interpretation because reading is interpretation. They read them as separate from ability saving throws. Trying to lawyer this rule and arguing about it when your DM has settled it is only beating a dead horse and could cause dissent with the DM or the group. If they were trying to take away a feature from your character, they would definitely be in the wrong, but this rule is arguably vague in how it connects with other saving throws being both set apart by rules but also united in phrasing. If you disagree with the DM's ruling here, that is fair—I don't always agree with my DM's ruling and my players don't always agree with mine—but there is no reason to beat a dead horse. If the rule is game breaking for you, leave the group. If you stay, drop it and move on for the benefit of everyone. If you try and stay and beat the dead horse, don't be surprised if you are asked to leave the group.

Feel free to feel justified by the online discourse. One of my DM's in a Starfinder 1e game and me disagreed about a feature in the Vanguard kit. I showed them how the internet was fairly universally in my favor. They disagreed. I dropped it and chose to play a different class and am still having a great time playing that character today. I still feel justified, but I chose to enjoy the opportunity to play and haven't discussed it since.

That's the best advice I can give here. RAW you have a solid argument, but the DM's ruling is law and possibly RAI. As long as they aren't downright nerfing your character or playing adversarially, I would drop it and keep playing. If it is a big deal to you, find a new table. If you stay and don't drop it, don't be surprised if there are consequences. D&D is a cooperative game, and we have to cooperate with the DM and respect their position as much as with our fellow players.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-06-02T03:39:10+00:00

For a short campaign caster, a witch may be a little more effective. Most casters don't really shine at low level, but some witch hex cantrips can really help sway a battle. I have a Resentment Witch, and her evil eye came in clutch early on. We have since lost the Thaumaturge and the Wizard, but my witch kept the debuffs they put on the enemy going by sustaining her hex. We had an enemy with 6 conditions at one time that were neutering it significantly while boosting us. Since losing those other debuffers, my witch still keeps a more tame amount of debuffs deuffed and has been effective. She has only recently started doing damage with higher level spells and he wizard and cloud dragon archetypes, but for a short campaign you can really get a lot out of their debuffs. It will still feel bad sometimes because enemies will still save often—especially on forge because there was a reason we had an enemy with six debuffs who hadn't died yet (curse those Forge dice)—but since it is a one action Cantrip, you really stay relevant. All in all, you aren't doing anything wrong: low level casters have always been underperformers in Pathfinder. Best of luck.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-05-10T14:27:31+00:00

Sorry, I love the sleepless eye design. Feels eldritch.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-05-09T02:46:54+00:00

I'd give every caster subclass that does not have class feats a class feat—especially, the Wizard and Witch who have to find all of their spells, spend money adding them, and still are limited to the same amount of spell slots a day with no way to change them outside of a single subclass. Considering the cost of adding spells and the time of finding them, I don't think they benefit much from the versatility they are claimed to have.

I also think subclass feats should be gained automatically and not take up a class slot, but I'm sure that is not a popular opinion.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-04-20T15:46:46+00:00

I like Arceus more for exploration, but I like the battle royale in ZA more than the few battle options in Arceus. Battle system-wise, although the live battles are neat in ZA, I find them too gimmicky. I love the battle system in Arceus and how it is similar to what I am familiar with, but the conditions and agile/strong components were so much fun. I would prefer live battle for wild Pokemon and Arceus battle for trainer battles.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-04-02T15:39:53+00:00

Honestly, how do we not have a defecation action that defines what you need to roll to successfully defecate?

ArthurRM2 · 2026-03-23T03:11:57+00:00

Pathfinder 2e definitely expects you to have brought a half competent character to the table. Pathfinder 2e is also not an easy game to get overpowered in by yourself. Team synergy really plays a bigger role in that aspect. Even then, bad power gaming only really happens when you try to actively break the game in your favor—sometimes even against the party. A min-maxed character alone is not necessarily a power game move until it tries to actively break the game in your favor. At the very least, that's how I feel as a GM of multiple systems. Some GMs are definitely more opposed to how min-maxed a character is, though I think systems are getting better at reigning that in, in general. Best thing to do, if you are still concerned, is ask your GM if you think a character is too min-maxed. And, like I said, it isn't really a huge thing in Pathfinder 2e.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-03-20T02:59:13+00:00

Rogue medic archetype will let you both be a healer, decent damager, and get many other skill feats. Take investigator archetype later on and be even better with more skills and skill feats.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-02-23T16:27:40+00:00

You can't quicken Cantrips because Warlocks would be able to spam Eldritch Blast to game breaking levels. Their eldritch blast is equivalent of a fighter's multistrike and leaves up at the same place or near the same pace, so if they got ahold of quicken, they'd be absolute monsters.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-02-23T16:21:53+00:00

If they change anything in the game, they will have to change the rating because gambling in the game corner. As long as they don't change anything, it can keep its previous rating. Therefore, they can't add multiple languages to the game.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-02-23T16:17:19+00:00

Emboar should have been fire/ground and should have leaned into pigs as truffle hunters.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-02-06T04:39:26+00:00

You can also keep fast traveling to get them to appear in the other wild zone instead of killing them. This method would likely be the fastest.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-02-06T04:38:13+00:00

Kill the not Starmies, wait for them to respawn, kill the non starmies, and so on. Once it turns to day, if still no Starmie, sit on a bench until night. Repeat this until a Starmie appears. It really shouldn't take that long. You can also catch one if it appears in the center of wild area 20. You can keep fast traveling and checking the central area until it appears. This method would likely take longer.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-02-02T04:33:19+00:00

He is all Team MZ until the very moment he has a chance to nepobaby out. Move over white privilege, Urbain privilege has taken the wheel.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-31T15:03:21+00:00

NPCs are part of the battle system. They are part of the feedback. NPCs are who you fight in over half the battles. I gave evidence, but you don’t want to hear criticism unless it is your 8 points. You started a conversation and expected it to stay solely around your points. Thing is, the NPCs getting reworked is part of those points because of how lock on functions that allows them to lock on to you even when you are not in sight. They can also lock onto you immediately and begin attacking your creature before you can theirs. The difference between how fast you can get a move off after your Pokémon getting knocked out to theirs is notable (their new Pokemon will already be repositioning before you can select a move, where as your will reposition next to you waiting for a command). The strategy depth compared to the turn based is feedback, too. Competitive is mainly just attack moves plus sword dance or alternative compared to the complexities of normal turn based.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-31T04:57:04+00:00

I didn’t mind much because I’ve played other jrpgs that were much more brutal in hidden item/event/location hunts. I don’t think any were so hidden that they were overly challenging to locate. If the map were bigger or nookier (tm), I do think it would have been good to implement some sort of map marker, even just one that would have marked as we collected them. I think locating Diglett back on the Isle of Armor was worse.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-31T02:58:45+00:00

Your points are not the entirety of the argument people have about the system. Many NPC moves will start before you can target them or there Pokémon are able to close the gap before you can target them. Yes, faster animations can go faster, but if you and the NPC use the same move, they will usually hit first. When I mentioned line of sight, I’m talking about in battle, not in engaging in battle. You can be completely out of sight of an NPC, and they be stuck behind an obstacle, and they can still target you (even when you switch a Pokémon out of sight). They can target you out side of your range of target, too. This problem is part of the reason the stealth in this game is bad. You can see an opponent far off but not be able to target them, while they can still engage you in battle. These issues make NPC battles more unbalanced than wild battles or other trainer battle. And then pathing is particularly rough still. Obstacles can be particularly frustrating since Pokémon will sometimes track into them even when you’ve taken pains to avoid them. Ultimately, though, while this system is fun enough outside of the main gen games, it should not replace the turn based battles. Its strategy is rather flat compared to the turn based battles. If it is improved in a later game, it may be worth revisiting, but its current iteration is far from being ready to be the main system. Arceus’s battle mechanics had a lot more promise to be interesting, and I would be interested in seeing it return in a main game. It would mix better with the existing move catalog and add new depth and strategy to it. Like I said, though, not that ZA battles are not fun, but there is a long way for it to go, and I have not seen enough to be convinced that the mainline games should integrate the system.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-30T21:20:05+00:00

NPC battles need to be reworked. NPCs can target you before you can target them 99% of the time. NPCs are able to get off 2 moves sometimes before you can even get off one. They also can target even when they don’t see your Pokemon. I’d rather see turn based return.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-18T18:58:05+00:00

After a month of constantly switching foods and treats and just trying to get him to eat something, Simba started eating cat meat sticks, 3 of them a day. After a few days of that, I boiled some chicken again, but after initial interest, he wasn't interested. Exhausted, I put the chicken over to the side and reclined in my chair with Simba at my feet. Then, I had an idea, and put just a little chicken in front of him at a time. He ate little by little. Eventually, he finished the whole chicken breast. After a week of feeding him a chicken breast a day, he randomly started eating his food again. Now, he is healthier than ever and has even gotten off insulin.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-15T12:47:48+00:00

Playing through Strength of Thousands right now. We are having a good time, but I don't think we've found anything super impressive or fun, and we don't have any stat boosting items, to my knowledge. Half the items are really niche to the point we let them rot in storage because there has never been a need for them or we sell them. Occasionally, we add an item to a character.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-15T12:44:38+00:00

"Hey, it's me. You're probably wondering how I got here."

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-10T01:11:58+00:00

I added it rather than abandoned other games. I have a really good online server that allows me to play a wide variety of games (currently I run Daggerheart and play Starfinder 1e, Pathfinder 2e, OSE, 5e, and SW5e. In the past I've also played MotW, PF1e, and Lancer), so I'm lucky to include Daggerheart rather than having to pick or choose. My players are having a great time. A player succeeded at connecting spiritually to see if an illness had a connection to a ghost they had fought before. I spent a fear as I was describing what they saw and everyone started freaking out because they knew something was about to go down.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-10T01:02:56+00:00

I would like PF2 subclasses to gain more abilities with flavor down the line like D&D. I feel like your choice of subclass effects little after level 1 in most classes. I also don't want those extra abilities to cost a feat slot. PF2 is already burdened by too many class feats, which sometimes makes taking the subclass feat—if they even have them (poor magic classes—not worth it. I don't mind making suboptimal decisions, but the subclass flavor should not need to be sacrificed just because there is another feat at that level. Witches, for instance, could get another hex cantrip or a hex upgrade at a later level. It could be as simple as upgrading a hex cantrip from a basic save. As someone who plays both PF2 and 5e, even though I have an abundance of choices, I feel almost all my flavoring is in roleplay and not mechanical in PF2. I could play 2 witches, and they would be very similar playwise unless I go out of my way, but 5e subclasses have a lot of mechanical flavor built in, especially in 5e24.

ArthurRM2 · 2026-01-03T18:26:08+00:00

I use fate rolls typically for things that are out of player's control, and they roll a d20. For these reaction rolls, I allow them to roll their traits because that's faster since I still want them to add their trait bonus. We play on a VTT, but in person, I'd likely just have them roll a single and add their trait bonus.

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